A Frost poem is in the news this week. One that has a lot to say about tradition. Being a Gardnerian, practicing old rites just as they have been passed down to me, I think a lot about tradition, its values and drawbacks. Here’s the poem: Mending Wall Something there is that doesn’t love a wall, That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it, And spills the upper boulders in the sun, And makes gaps even two can pass abreast. The work... Read more
While our religion is at its heart an agriculturally derived religion, there was without a doubt focuses on military cultuses, and aspects of military life that also comprised the pre-Christian lives of ancient Heathens. Afterall, a culture needed both food to sustain it as well as the ability to defend itself (or for some to also wage war against others). The Helm of Awe (or The Helm of Terror) refers to an item attested to in the sagas of yesteryear.... Read more
The Godself is what it sounds like: that spark of the divine we each carry around with us, the part of ourselves that reaches beyond the here and now and the simply personal. Godself, also called the bird spirit or Holy Dove, connects us to the larger universe beyond our temporary concerns. Read more
This is the final part of Galina Krasskova's article on the God Loki. Part III looks at Loki's role and reception within modern Heathenry. Read more
History is written by the victors. This we all know well, yet there is a portion of our history that I don’t hear Pagans talk about a lot. The fall of the Roman Empire is generally seen as a failure of Paganism and Pagan culture. The “fact” of Paganism collapsing under it’s own decadence has been repeated so often that it would be surprising to hear it contradicted. Yet if you put on your “Pagan glasses” and look at the... Read more
There is a little witch in us all, and many who are reading this are here because they are hungry for knowledge; so here is a lovely simple ritual that I wrote it many years ago, it will help and guide you. Spell for WITCH WISDOM and EARTH KNOWLEDGE Any moon, but the day MUST be a Thursday Prep:Find suitable location where you will NOT be disturbed. Take a bath or shower, wear loose fitting clean organic clothing. You will... Read more
Our blogs are changing, which means we need some groovy new art as a header! Which means we’re having a contest! WooHoo! Since the blog on the Pagan Portal seeks to represent all Pagan religions we want our header art to represent the broader Pagan community. Maybe this is by focusing on some element all Pagan religions have in common, maybe it’s by exploring their uniqueness! Get creative! What represents the greater Pagan community to you? The top ten submissions... Read more
Ironically, just as I was gearing up to write this post, Cara Schultz does a very lovely blog about Aphrodite. Which you might want to read because my post isn’t nearly as lovely. See, Aphrodite loathes me. Nothing personal, just part of Olympian politics. As a devotee of Hephaistos, her scorned husband, I will never have a warm loving relationship with the lovely Cyprian. Which is fine by me. Let’s backtrack. You know the story of Aphrodite and Hephaistos, right?... Read more
There is a lone female duck that lives in our backyard. No males try to lure her away for illicit duck-sex, not last year and not this year, either. All the other ducks have long since paired off for some serious nest sitting and egg hatching. All but her. She isn’t even allowed near the nesting site. Perhaps the other ducks are shunning her for some transgression? I’m not sure what it is about her that the other males don’t... Read more
Pagan Spirit Gathering is coming up and as I try to work out if I’ll be able to go and for how long, I think about what it will be like to spend a week without the internet. For most of my waking day I am connected to the internet, keeping an eye on e-mail and news. Lately I’ve spent more time looking at a computer screen than I have a book, but I can remember when this wasn’t so.... Read more
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